LAKE PLACID — Lake Placid Middle School sixth-grader Tyler Carr played the part of of a batting machine to answer a scientific question – does a baseball travel farther when hit with a wooden or an aluminum bat? For his science project experiment, Carr tried to make a batting machine with the help of his baseball coach, but the cost and a design problem thwarted it. ...more

May 12, 2008

Breaking into a grin every now and then, 11-year-old Johnathon Ferland seemed to wonder what all the fuss was about Monday as he was celebrated as a model for bicycle safety. ...more

February 5, 2008

LARGO - Breaking into a grin every now and then, 11-year-old Johnathon Ferland seemed to wonder what all the fuss was about this morning as he was celebrated as a model for bicycle safety. The local police chief and a representative from All Children's Hospital, among others, congratulated him for wearing his bicycle helmet Jan. 29 as he was waiting to walk his bicycle across a crosswalk. ...more

February 4, 2008

AVON PARK — Andy Bonjokian was so excited, he just had to stand up. "I'm sorry," he said to a group of reporters gathered in Avon Park principal Stu Guthrie's office. "I'm a wreck here." The Avon Park alumnus (Class of 1986) was introduced as the Red Devils' new head football coach on Tuesday, standing tall among the candidates after a two-month search brought on by the firing of former skipper Earnest Perkins. ...more

January 29, 2008

Or Ben Said stood anxiously beside his father inside Temple David, a blue and white prayer shawl draped around his slight shoulders, a black leather box bound upon his head. ...more

January 15, 2008

SEBRING — Highlands Little Theatre patrons will have a chance to decide for themselves whether bread should be buttered from the bottom or top in its latest production. Performances of "Suessical the Musical" at the intimate local venue will run from Jan. 18 to Feb. 2. A cast of almost 40 actors will examine the buttering question, along with several intriguing other issues from the mischievous and playful slant of children's book author Dr. Suess. The book is by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty and the music is by Flaherty. Play director Mike McMillian said before Thursday's dress rehearsal that the two-hour musical (including intermission) isn't just for kids. Adult themes concerning the environment, racism, war and non-traditional families might fly over the heads of the younger crowd, said McMillian, though kids and their parents will both be wowed by seeing more than 20 Suess books colorfully interpreted through 30 songs. ...more

January 12, 2008

Paper recycling has come to town, thanks to a group of students at St. Anthony School. ...more

December 30, 2007

A Tampa Bay area legal expert says charges of child pornography may not stick to a Lakeland school principal. ...more

December 25, 2007

BARTOW - A Polk County principal was arrested today after deputies found pictures of a childlike naked woman with the head of a girl superimposed on the image, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said. ...more

December 21, 2007

Attention Quinton Johns' family: Don't read until Dec. 25. Two days after an appendectomy, 12-year-old Quinton dragged an IV tube behind his gown as he combed tables inside St. Joseph's Children's Hospital stacked with pink nail polish, measuring tapes, ponytail holders and stuffed rhinoceroses. ...more

December 6, 2007